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Happy Monday morning.

The House has a “Committee Work Week” with no floor votes while the Senate is in recess until July 11.

President Joe Biden is in the midst of a high-profile trip to Europe, and that’s where we’re turning our attention to this morning.

Biden is participating in a three-day G7 meeting in Bavaria, Germany, that began Sunday. This will be followed by a trip to Madrid for the NATO summit.

Much of Biden’s focus this week, of course, will be the war in Ukraine. Specifically how to continue upping the pressure on Russia both militarily and economically while also helping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s embattled government. Zelensky spoke to Biden and the other G7 leaders by video today, per the pool report.

According to a White House “Fact Sheet” released early Monday morning, the G7 leaders “will make an unprecedented, long-term security commitment to providing Ukraine with financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support as long as it takes.” This will include “the timely provision of modern defense equipment and advanced weapons systems.”

AP is reporting that the United States is purchasing the same Norwegian system used to protect the White House and Capitol.

Yet even as the G7 meeting kicked off on Sunday, Russia was launching a massive missile strike at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, a signal to Biden and other Western leaders that Vladimir Putin has no intention of backing off his continued brutal offensive against Ukraine. Biden condemned the Russian attacks as “more of their barbarism.”

And Russia is defaulting on foreign loans for the first time since 1918, a grim sign of how far the country’s relationship with the Western democracies and Japan has deteriorated. Despite the abysmal state of its economy following the imposition of draconian U.S.-led sanctions, Russia has the money to pay its bills – thanks to sky high oil prices brought about in part, ironically, by the war in Ukraine.

Russia, however, isn’t being allowed to make its debt payment thanks to the Western sanctions. Which may mean more in terms of global headlines than in real pain for Russia or more internal problems for Putin, although it is further proof of Russia’s growing pariah status.

The G7 leaders also announced Sunday they would end purchases of Russian gold, a major source of revenue for Putin’s government. And there was discussion of a plan, reportedly backed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to cap the price of Russian oil purchased by European countries. The goal is to cut down on the amount of revenue flowing to Russia from such sales, although it’s not entirely clear how this will work.

The White House announced that United States and other G7 nations will “aggressively target Russian defense supply chains” with more sanctions; use funds from new tariffs on Russian imports to help Ukraine; sanction Russian officials and military leaders involved in the Ukrainian campaign; and make additional economic commitments to help Zelensky’s government cover its budget.

As for the state of the conflict in Ukraine, despite enormous sacrifices by the Ukrainian military and tens of billions of dollars of U.S. and Western aid, it seems clear that Russia is slowly gaining the upper hand.

Here’s the latest from CNN:

There are also some signs of stress in the Western alliance over the conflict. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly warned French President Emmanuel Macron that “any attempt to settle the conflict now will only cause enduring instability,” according to several media reports. French officials denied such an exchange had taken place, however.

Today’s sessions will include discussions with leaders from India, Indonesia and other nations over food prices and security, both of which have become global problems since the war in Ukraine began. Rising prices for food and fuel have led to protests across the globe. Just during the last week or two, there have been protests in Ecuador, Nepal, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other developing nations over the soaring cost of living. IMF officials have warned that “low-income countries” are more susceptible to price increases because their citizens pay a much higher portion of their incomes for basic staples.

Designed to be the U.S. response to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” which is an international infrastructure development plan designed to help spread China’s influence, Biden will announce “the U.S. aims to mobilize $200 billion over the next five years” for the PGII through grants, federal funding and private sector investments, the White House said. Overall, the Biden administration hopes to “mobilize $600 billion by 2027” combined from all the G7 nations. We’ll see if this does any better than the first round.

– John Bresnahan

Reminder about our event tomorrow: We’re excited for our conversation with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET. We’ll be talking to him about the 2024 election and the challenges facing small businesses coming out of the pandemic. Join us at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in Concord, N.H., or on the livestream! RSVP Here.